Beer of the Weekend #965: Dear Annie

I busted out my Number One Pint Glass recently to drink Dear Annie, brewed by the Kinship Brewing Company of Waukee, Iowa.



Serving type: 12-ounce can poured into a pint glass. “MURKY MEN 11/02/21” is printed on the bottom. I don’t know what “MURKY MEN” means, but I assume the date is the canning date.

Appearance: The color is hazy golden amber. A bubbly off-white head dissipates slowly and unevenly. Trails of foam are glued to the side. I don’t think I have ever seen foam stick to the glass like this.

Smell: The aroma is citrusy with hints of tropical fruit. Orange, peach, lemon, grapefruit, hints of mango and pineapple. It is pulpy and reminds me of orange juice at brunch.

Taste: It is better out of the can than in the glass—or perhaps the can I poured into the glass was not as good. (I did not roll the can back and forth before opening it. Instead, after remember too late, I swirled the last quarter or so of the beer before pouring it, which is probably why it tasted off.) Regardless, this six-pack is pretty old as hazy IPAs go, so the flavor is not as good as it was when fresh. It is tasty and mirrors the aroma. I mostly get orange and a little grapefruit. Lemon is also present and coats the taste buds in a lasting, bitter aftertaste. Peach is also in the mix. Hazy yeast flavor is also present, which I have never cared for.

Fun facts about Dear Annie:

• Style: Hazy IPA.

• Price: $10.99 for a sixer of 12-ounce cans at the New Pioneer Food Co-op in Iowa City.

• Alcohol content: 6.8 percent ABV.

• Kinship is located just off the Raccoon River Valley Trail. Waukee is a nice cycling town, a link between the trails in Des Moines and the RRVT. If you want to ride the RRVT, you should get a trail pass (which is technically required, but I’m unsure how much the requirement is enforced).

• What’s the deal with that hazy IPA yeast taste and why do some beers have it and others don’t? Here’s an explanation I found online:

The flipside to the previous point, and the single most problematic aspect of most bad hazy IPAs, is that there’s simply too much stuff in suspension. Beers with too much hop particulate in suspension lose the “juicy” quality that is being sought and instead replace it with harsh, vegetal and intensely grassy/green notes that are alternatively bitter and sometimes positively corrosive in terms of texture/acidity. Likewise, beers with too much yeast that should have been left at the bottom of a conical fermenter taste muddy, bready, astringent and generally unappealing, while also muting the hop character that is being sought. These are issues that have become increasingly common in the race for “peak turbidity,” which we should rightfully compare to the equally dumb race for maximum IBUs in the mid-2000’s—in both cases, the trends turned an unappetizing quality of IPA into a competition for the sake of marketing buzzwords, except this time it’s “chewy” instead of “bitter.” (https://www.pastemagazine.com/drink/india-pale-ale/the-state-of-ipa-hazy-juicy-sludgy-and-confused/#what-do-bad-ipas-do-wrong-)

I have had a lot of hazy IPAs that have too much stuff in suspension.

• I’m unsure if I have ever stated this publicly, but I use my Number One Pint Glass only for beers from breweries new to BotW. It has been a while since I used it.

The Quiet Man’s grade: B.